Attorney Cites Client Privilege, Says He Will Not Tell Where Teen-ager Is

September 28, 1990|By LISA OCKER, Staff Writer

An attorney for a man charged with sexually abusing a child holds the key to finding the boy, who apparently has disappeared with his mother, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

But defense attorney Mark Koenig says he is ethically precluded from revealing the location of the mother and child because he also represents the mother on an unrelated matter.

``Attorney-client privilege comes first before anything else,`` Koenig said. ``If we chip away at attorney-client privilege, how can any client feel secure in telling his attorney anything?``

Without the 13-year-old boy`s testimony, there would be no case against Lawrence Williams, who is charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious assault on a child, Assistant State Attorney Betty Resch said.

The boy was last thought to be with his mother on a trip to South Carolina, Resch said.

``I don`t care where the mother is. I only care about where the child is,`` she said.

Resch is seeking to have a judge postpone further proceedings until the boy is found, or order Koenig to produce him, she said. A hearing date has not been set.

Koenig, in the meantime, has invoked Williams` right to a speedy trial, which is scheduled for Dec. 3 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Sheriff`s deputies arrested Williams, 29, on May 31 after the child reported that the man had forced him to perform sex acts on several occasions during the past year, arrest records show.

The boy told detectives it began one day when his brothers were playing in the yard and his mother was out.

Afterward, Williams told the boy ``this was their secret and not to tell anyone,`` then gave him $5, Detective William Vann wrote.

Williams ``did say that he asked (the boy) to give him a back rub, but at no time did (the boy) ever touch his private parts,`` Vann wrote. ``Mr. Williams stated that he was a Mormon preacher and that they did not believe in doing this.``

Williams was released from jail on his own recognizance on the condition that he submit to pre-trial supervision by a probation agency, abide by a dusk-to- dawn curfew and stay away from the boy and other children, unless another adult was present, records show.